I wouldnt go that far pingpong. I like R1's and Gixxers but I still love the 1198. Its only their race bikes lack of progress i whinge about, oh and the price. I'd quite fancy an 899 to be honest. Had a go of one and its a right laugh.
Not sure 230hp is the point. Traction control will neuter it to behave like it has 180hp. The extra 50hp comes into play at 140mph and up... but so what? The Dual Clutch gearbox is, however, of interest! Honda should have done this with their Blade and DCT...
230 bhp? Who gives a toss? Certainly not me. I was riding the 999 home from work today and realised that I tend to ride it at about 150 kph on an emptyish road. Why? Because that is 5'000 rpm in top and where it is happy. So, the sensible option on my pathetic 125 bhp at the rear wheel thing, is never to use 6th, which seems a little daft. So with 230 bhp, I'd have to be restricted to, what, 3rd? Of course, if I was a genius racer type, I suppose I might be able to use all that power on the track, but not being one, I just can't see where I'd use it. Plus a 230 bhp bike would just feel constantly underused pretty much anywhere and would be a huge frustration. And then I'd lose my licence and be locked up. Of course, I could get one to prove that I have an absolutely mahoosive todger but frankly I don't care if people know or not. On the racing front, it's a different story. As Ducati derive a lot of their kudos from their racing success, they will have to go down this route, whether it makes intelligent street bikes or not. Remember, they only won all their championships from getting the rules bent in their favour. Twins cannot make the same power for a given CC as fours - it seems to be an engineering fact. What is also true is that twins deliver a feel-good factor that most fours lack and seeing as they are already too fast for current road conditions and legislation, why would you deprive yourself of this just for knowing that you could blow everyone away for your once-every-several-years trip to a German autobahn?
I'm not convinced they will get 230bhp out of it, plus I'm not really interested in the power, the DCT sounds interesting though, if it's not as ugly as the current bike I'd consider one.
There's not much better looking then a 1098 parked in the garage, I never said that when I owned a R1
best thing about 230bhp is that you can point to it down the pub/caff and say... "230bhp" to which bystanders will be in awe.
look like the doctor, feel like the doctor.....................i am the doctor!!!:Shamefullyembarrased:
